ArticleCancer discovery2026
AI-Powered Deep Visual Proteomics Reveals Critical Molecular Transitions in Pancreatic Cancer Precursors.
Article in Cancer discovery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Asynchronous Evolution of Epithelium and Stroma Differentiates Precursor Lesions from Pancreatic Cancer.Cancer discovery · 2026Article
- Spatially resolved tissue architecture and computational pathology in pancreatic cancer.Experimental & molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Quantitative 3D histology reveals localized immune remodeling during early pancreatic cancer progression.Cell press blue · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
21 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) evolves through precursors, yet the protein programs governing early progression remain poorly defined. We applied Deep Visual Proteomics (DVP)-integrating computational pathology, laser microdissection, and mass spectrometry (MS)-to profile normal ducts, acinar-to-ductal metaplasia (ADM), low-grade (LG) and high-grade (HG) pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN), and invasive carcinoma from organ donors and patients with PDAC. Quantifying 9,181 proteins from ∼100 cells per region, we uncovered a molecular field effect in histologically normal ducts and proteomic divergence of LG-PanINs by cancer context. We identified four stage-associated molecular programs. Stress adaptation and immune engagement emerged early in cancer-associated normal ducts. Metabolic reprogramming initiated in normal ducts and intensified across PanIN progression. Mitochondrial remodeling became prominent in HG-PanINs before invasion. MS detected KRAS hotspot mutant peptides within incidental precursor lesions from cancer-free individuals. These findings demonstrate that molecular reprogramming precedes histologic transformation, creating opportunities for earlier detection of lethal cancer. SIGNIFICANCE: Artificial intelligence (AI)-guided DVP represents the first in-depth assessment of the proteomic landscapes observed during the multistep progression of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, including histologically normal ducts, ADM, and LG- and HG-PanIN lesions. These data represent a unique resource of candidate biomarkers and interception targets against this lethal disease. See related commentary by Yang and Fan, p. 1255.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.